A good night for Brighton, a good night for Shane Duffy.
When Danny Ings struck home a 65th minute penalty and put Southampton 2-0 to the good, you’d have forgiven Mark Hughes for breaking into an Alan Pardew dance.
25 minutes left, two goals to the good… job done? Not on Shane Duffy’s watch.
100 seconds later, the Derry man was rising in the Southampton box to head home for Brighton and set the hosts up for a nervy finish.
By the 90th minute, it was Shane Duffy who was upended in the same box and it was Glenn Murray who despatched the penalty. A penalty that Mark Hughes took issue with, of course.
“As always, I question the penalty decision because I thought it was a little bit soft,” the Southampton manager told Monday Night Football after the game.
“I don’t think there was too much contact. I think the guy has just thrown himself to the floor and the referee’s deemed that worthy of a penalty.”
Should #BHAFC have had a penalty?
"I don't think there was too much contact and I think the guy has thrown himself to the floor."
Southampton manager Mark Hughes angered by 'soft' late penalty in Brighton draw: https://t.co/Lw93thoWXU pic.twitter.com/87EHBuF7oq
— Sky Sports Retro (@SkySportsRetro) September 17, 2018
Big centre half… goes down easy – it’s the simplest piece of analysis in the game these days even when the reality is that Shane Duffy was fouled.
Law 12:
“A direct free-kick or penalty is awarded if a player commits any of the following offences… holds an opponent, impedes an opponent with contact…”
Referees in the Premier League were specifically briefed about defenders’ conduct in the box during set pieces and they were instructed to clamp down on grappling and barging and, when Duffy is in the box, he’s not going to be ignored.
James Ward-Browse, with a run up, came straight into the back of Duffy and followed through with a forceful push.
Whether Duffy should’ve fallen to the ground based on what happened is irrelevant to the question of whether he was fouled or not.
And he was fouled.
But why should we expect anything different of Mark Hughes at this stage?
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